Frankenstein, Jr. and The Impossibles
Frankenstein, Jr. and The Impossibles is an American Saturday morning cartoon produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica in 1966. It premiered September 10, 1966, on CBS, and ran for two seasons. Overview The program contained two segments, which each served as a middle ground between Hanna-Barbera's traditional cartoon early output and its superhero-based late-1960s cartoons. Each episode would feature two segments with The Impossibles, and Frankenstein, Jr. in between. * Frankenstein, Jr.: Taking place in Civic City, boy scientist Buzz Conroy (voiced by Dick Beals) and his father Professor Conroy (voiced by John Stephenson) fight supervillains with the aid of a powerful heroic robot named "Frankenstein, Jr." (voiced by Ted Cassidy). "Frankie", as Buzz usually referred to him, was more than a little reminiscent of the title character in Gigantor and the giant robot of Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot (aka Giant Robo). Buzz built "Frankie" and activated him through an energy ring. * The Impossibles: The title characters are a trio of superheroes (Multi Man, Fluid Man, and Coil Man) who pose undercover as a Beatlesesque rock music band. The characters' names are descriptive of their powers: Multi-Man (voiced by Don Messick) can create identical copies of himself; Coil-Man (voiced by Hal Smith) can form into a super-springy coil; and Fluid-Man (voiced by Paul Frees) can transform his body into any fluid. The heroes receive assignments from "Big D" (also voiced by Frees), who contacts them via a receiver in the base of Coil-Man's left-handed guitar. During the development of the show, this group was called "The Incredibles," but was changed to "The Impossibles" by the time of production. The team's pre-production name was later given to the superhero family from the Disney/Pixar movie of the same name. The show was the target of complaints about violence in children's television, and was canceled in 1968. The Frankenstein, Jr. segments were later recycled in the 1976 series Space Ghost and Frankenstein, Jr., which aired on NBC from November 27, 1976, until September 3, 1977, replacing the canceled Big John, Little John. Episodes Frankenstein, Jr. The Impossibles Voices * Dick Beals as Buzz Conroy * Ted Cassidy as Frankenstein Jr. * John Stephenson as Professor Conroy * Paul Frees as Fluid Man, Big D * Don Messick as Multi Man * Hal Smith as Coil Man Adaptations A single issue of a Frankenstein, Jr. and the Impossibles comic was released by Gold Key Comics in 1966 as a tie-in to the TV series, and the contents were reprinted in The Impossibles Annual by Atlas Publishing & Distributing Co. Ltd, UK in 1968. The two Frankenstein, Jr. comic stories were titled "The Image Invasion" and "Frankenstein, Jr. Meets the Flea Man". A new text-based story, specially written for the annual, was "A Spook in his Wheel". The character reappeared in the comic Hanna-Barbera Presents #8 published by Archie Comics in 1996. The front cover featured Frankenstein, Jr. battling the Impossibles in an homage to the front cover of the original Fantastic Four #1 by Marvel Comics. A Big Little Book titled Frankenstein, Jr.: The Menace of the Heartless Monster was published in 1968.http://www.biglittlebooks.com/frankensteinjr.html The Impossibles' heroic identities were re-used for a later Hanna-Barbera production, The Super Globetrotters (which also featured a similar concept—in this case, the famous Harlem Globetrotters as undercover superheroes): * Nate Branch's heroic identity was alternately known as "Fluid Man" or "Liquid Man", with powers (and a flippered costume) similar to the Impossibles' Fluid-Man. * "Twiggy" Sanders became "Spaghetti Man", with coiling and stretching abilities similar to Coil-Man. * "Geese" Ausbie as "Multi Man" had virtually identical powers as his Impossibles counterpart and a similar costume. In 2016, Buzz and Frankenstein, Jr. and the Impossibles played a major role in the DC Comics series Future Quest, that also featured characters from various animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera such as Jonny Quest, Space Ghost, The Herculoids, Birdman and the Galaxy Trio and Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor. Other appearances * Buzz Conroy and Frankenstein, Jr. appeared in Yogi's Space Race episode "Race Through the Planet of the Monsters". * Frankenstein, Jr., Buzz Conroy, and the Impossibles (consisting of Multi-Man, Fluid-Man, Coil-Man, and a new member Cobalt) appear in DC Comics Future Quest DVD release On April 26, 2011, Warner Archive released Frankenstein, Jr. and The Impossibles: The Complete Series on DVD in region 1 as part of their Hanna–Barbera Classics Collection. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and Amazon.com. References External links * Frankenstein, Jr. at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on July 30, 2016. * * Frankenstein, Jr. at the Big Cartoon DataBase * Category:CBS network shows Category:1960s American animated television series Category:1966 American television series debuts Category:1968 American television series endings Category:Hanna-Barbera superheroes Category:Works based on Frankenstein Category:Television series by Hanna-Barbera Category:American children's animated superhero television series Category:American children's animated action television series Category:American children's animated adventure television series Category:American children's animated fantasy television series Category:Television series scored by Bruce Broughton Category:Television series scored by Jerry Goldsmith Category:Films produced by Roger Corman Category:Films produced by Dino De Laurentiis